Zora Neale Hurston: Author (Black Americans of Achievement)

Witcover, Paul

ISBN 10: 0791011291 ISBN 13: 9780791011294

Publisher: Chelsea House Pub, 1991

Synopsis

A biography of the Afro-American writer well-known for her novels and collections of folklore

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7-12-- Bursting onto the literary scene of the Harlem Renaissance in 1925, Zora Neale Hurston was a cipher. Few people realized that not only was this vivacious woman ten years older than she claimed to be, but also that she had overcome numerous hardships on the road to literary self-expression. That she arrived at all was amazing, and that she arrived so strongly centered and confident was phenomenal. Although Witcover's prose is merely workmanlike, young adults who begin this book will most likely finish it, drawn on by the continually interesting character of Hurston's emotionally and intellectually turbulent life. Witcover allows Hurston to speak for herself just enough to leave readers wishing he would give her the floor more often. In this respect, the book suffers by comparison to Mary Lyons's Sorrow's Kitchen (Scribners, 1990). Witcover, however, does cover the facts of Hurston's life more precisely. Where Lyons omits any mention of Hurston's second marriage, Witcover details it, and also fills readers in on his subject's last years in Florida, a time that Lyons glosses over. Witcover also does better in explaining Hurston's controversial stand on civil rights issues, giving more of a context than does Lyons's more subjective work. While Sorrow's Kitchen is still the title of choice, this one provides a good complement. It's attractively formatted and illustrated with black-and-white period photographs. --Ann Welton, University Child Development School, Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chelsea House Pub
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0791011291
• ISBN 13: 9780791011294
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 119